IT was a seminal gathering of Dons’ elders at the 50th reunion of the Batsford Boys’ storied 1974/75 FA Cup run. RAY ARMFIELD was one of many who helped pull it all together and tells the tale of how a cult hero made an emotional appearance and got the biggest queue on the night for selfies and autographs.
It was the culmination of months of planning, hard work and co-operation by so many good people across AFC Wimbledon’s Commercial and Media teams, Wimbledon in Sporting History (WiSH) and Wimbledon Old Players Association (WOPA) that led to 11 former ‘Batsford Boys’ from Wimbledon’s iconic 1974/75 FA Cup run squad joined by over 160 fans for dinner and an evening of nostalgia on Friday 31 January.
The Batsford Boys—those club legends of non-league Wimbledon who defied the odds at Elland Road by taking the mighty Leeds United to a FA Cup replay in 1975 only to go out 1-0 to a Dave Bassett own goal before 45,000 at Selhurst Park. There they were on stage at Plough Lane receiving their deserved accolades from Dons supporters.
As I began to realise and commented on social media when the day drew near, “In hindsight, helping to reopen a museum, getting a squad of men aged between 70-80 years of age in the same room at the same time and arranging the special guest for an AFC Wimbledon home game in the same 24 hour window isn’t something I’d recommend for anyone’s stress levels” but it all turned out alright on the night – and indeed on the pitch the following day.
Amazingly perhaps for a generation that wasn’t brought up with smart phones and electronic means of communication, the Allen Batsford side was truly a remarkable band of brothers who stayed in touch, with even their wives retaining strong bonds with each other over half a century.
So for someone like me, barely a teenager when this epic season unfolded, to get to know my boyhood heroes as friends in many cases was wonderfully surreal.
Dave Bassett is the most high-profile of the team, given his subsequent managerial exploits, so to realise he had my number in his phone when I rang him a few times took some getting used to. Always answering my calls with a “Hello Ray, how’s it going son?” I mean, I’m 63 next month and no-one has called me that in a while, but ‘Harry’ is 80 so I always inwardly smile.
When we fixed a date for the reunion, quite a few were on-board immediately. There were a few that took some work and one of almost Holy Grail proportions – more of that later. In the end, a prior family engagement in Ireland meant Keiron Somers was unable to attend, an illness put Mick Mahon on the sidelines and despite our best efforts, none of us could find Dave Lucas.
But cult hero Roger Connell was the one I wanted. Invited, but not attending a couple of previous gatherings, I was told “He won’t come, you’ll never get him.” But as the Canadian Mounties used to say when tracking people “We always get our man” I found a number for Roger and rang it. He answered and we had a quick chat.
Roger sounded interested. We swapped a few messages and then his daughter Enya became involved. Roger had just undergone major spinal surgery and getting him across London wasn’t going to be easy.
ENYA told me ROGER was always quiet and humble about his playing career – even to her – and I’m not sure she understood when I explained how much it would mean to us all to see him back at Plough Lane. I wrote to him for an autograph once and got back his signature with “It was the best time of my life”.
We formulated a plan but even on the day, even until I had my “Elvis is in the building” moment, when Enya pushed her father into the stadium in a wheelchair, did I actually think we could pull it off.
Roger got the biggest cheer of the night when the squad were introduced one by one. In addition to the Leeds highlights, we all sat and watched the Middlesbrough FA Cup games from 1977, which most hadn’t seen before. Roger was front and centre on and off the pitch, with a disallowed goal and an eloquent post-game interview, rebutting Jack Charlton’s disparaging claims about our style of play and the pitch. And at the end, the biggest queue to get selfies and autographs was for Roger. It was very emotional.
Afterwards, the ‘thank you’ messages from the players also pulled at the heartstrings. It was poignant to contemplate that this may be the final time we get them all back as a group, but the evening did them and those of us that facilitated it justice.
The museum itself has been a real labour of love for many of the same volunteers that helped with the Batsford Dinner. Its been a long road since the flood in September, but if there has been one positive to emerge from that, it’s been that our ability to showcase the treasures of this unique club have seen us bounce back better, brighter and bolder than before.
Twenty new themed and sponsored cabinets – each dedicated to a moment within our timeline from 1889 – plus new flooring have made what we can now offer, the envy of many clubs considerably higher up the food chain. I can’t describe it or really give you an experience with a few photos, so check out a few videos online and of course, if you are able, come and see it for yourselves one day.
And, of course, the weekend was topped off nicely with a big three points against a Bradford City side on a run of straight victories and very much in the promotion hunt with us.
IAN COOKE writes: THE ‘Batsford Boys’ event was a great success, well attended by fans and with old players in attendance: Dickie Guy, Paul Priddy, Billy Edwards, Bob Stockley, Jeff Bryant, Dave Bassett, Selwyn Rice, Glenn Aitken, Graham Smith, Roger Connell and myself. It was also very nice to have Maureen Batsford and Gloria Donaldson there representing their late husbands and they both enjoyed themselves. Also in the gathering was Mick Kelly the goalkeeper who was at the club when I joined Wimbledon in 1963 when he was also the goalkeeper for England Amateurs before being transferred to Queens Park Rangers. Mick ended up as goalkeeping coach with the full England squad for many years. Unfortunately, Kieron Somers had to cry off as he was required at a family gathering in Dublin which he only found out about two weeks beforehand. Mick Mahon was also unable to attend as he went down with a bug a couple of days earlier. The atmosphere was truly wonderful — we were all individually welcomed into the hall with applause and cheers from the gathered throng of supporters [plus a good number of our family members also there]. A great deal of hard work had been done by John Lynch and Ray Armfield [assisted by wife Sharon] over many preceding months, while
[The Batsford Boys Reunion was first published in the February-March 2025 issue of the Wombles Downunder fanzine. Details on how you can subscribe to Wombles Downunder.]
